How will the Caucus results be released?

DES MOINES — The Iowa Caucuses are almost here. Democrats and Republicans are holding caucuses, starting at 7 p.m.

Republicans will take a straw poll. Although two challengers spent the past several days in Iowa, G-O-P officials expect President Trump to win easily.

On the Democratic side, there will be three sets of results released. One will be the raw vote total at the start — something like the popular vote in a presidential election. Another will be the number of delegates each candidate has won toward the Iowa Democratic Party’s state convention.

This is sort of like the Electoral College — so it’s a statewide show of strength. Iowa Democrats will declare the Caucus winner based on that tally. The third set of numbers will also be raw votes — representing how many people were standing for each candidate at the end of the night.

Some Caucus-goers will be forced to choose a second candidate if their preferred candidate does not have at least 15 percent support in the precinct.

Iowa Democratic Party officials will release ALL THREE sets of numbers at the same time — once all precincts have reported their results.